


Powerless Hakurei Tales 07: Perfect Cherry Blossom

by Carmichael_Micaalus



Series: Powerless Hakurei Tales [2]
Category: Touhou Project
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-08-18
Updated: 2018-08-18
Packaged: 2019-06-29 04:20:17
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 18,108
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15721854
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Carmichael_Micaalus/pseuds/Carmichael_Micaalus
Summary: It's Spring!  Or at least... it should be.  Something has happened to the season of Spring; can the defenders of Gensokyo find out what happened to the missing season?!





	Powerless Hakurei Tales 07: Perfect Cherry Blossom

Perfect Cherry Blossom

 

“There are a lot of blondes in Gensokyo…” Sakuya murmured to Marisa as they hung back, allowing Reimu talk to the tall magician.  Marisa shrugged.

“Probably has to do with the ambient mana or something.  I used to be a redhead.”

The maid frowned and looked at her.  “...really?”

“Oh aye; Reimu used to have hair as purple as Patchouli’s, too.”

Sakuya sighed and went back to watching the exchange.  “Okay, now I know you’re bullshitting me.”

“I’m serious!” She grinned.  “Go on, ask her when she comes back.”

“Maybe I wi- oh dear.”  As Reimu started to head back, the tall magician got her attention once more, her body language much different than before.

“Oh, after so long since our last meeting, and the only gift you have brought me is your life?”  The magician began to smile.

The shrine maiden flinched back.  “U-um, I’m very sorry miss, but I’m afraid I don’t recognize you… when did we last meet?”

“She really seems to be going for theatrics…” The maid noted, watching the event played out.

“Yeah, well, I’m going to play the role of the fuckin’ vaudeville hook, then…”

“Your red-white powers are a mere twenty-eight point fi- _woah!”_  The woman dodged out of the way of Marisa’s opening salvo, pushing her back.  She grinned at the black-white magician. “Well, well! An _actual_ fight, then!  Come on then, Marisa!”

“Go sit with Sakuya for a bit, dear.”  Marisa readied herself for battle as Reimu quickly got out of the combat zone.

“Said the wrong thing?” Sakuya nudged the girl as she floated next to her.

“N-no, she knows who I am, but I don’t remember her… I think it upset her.”  She watched the opposing magician intently as their battle started. Sakuya chuckled softly.

“You take far too much at face value, my tiny friend.  I believe she was acting.”

“Really?  How can you tell?”

The maid thought for a moment as they continued to watch the ongoing battle.  “...I suppose from serving Master Remilia for so long.”

“...Lady Remilia always tricks me.” Reimu mumbled.

“As I said, you take far too much at face value, which makes you fun to tease.  That, and my master enjoys toeing the line of ‘acceptable teasing’ and ‘enraging Marisa’.”

“Why?”

“Mild masochistic streak, I assume.”

Reimu frowned.  “A… what?”

Sakuya coughed.  “Ah, nevermind.”

The shrine maiden turned her attention back to the mage battle, keeping an eye on the opponent.  “Her fighting style is… familiar…”

“Well, I suppose there are only so many ways you can attack with dolls…”

Reimu gasped.  “Alice!”

“Yes, I believe she said that was her name.”

“No, Marisa, Mima, and I met her in Makai!  I’m sure of it now!” She wrung her hands nervously.  “Oh… I need to tell her!”

“Ah-ah-ah…” Sakuya grabbed her by the shoulders, “just wait for the fight to finish; like I said, I’m positive she wasn’t angry at you.”

“ _HOLD!_ ”  Alice commanded, placing her hands out.  Marisa paused, but kept her focus at the ready.  The puppeteer slowly raised her hands into the air.  “I surrender,” she announced, “it is your win, Marisa.”

“Hmph; out of spell cards, are we?”  The fight over, Marisa stuck her mini-hakkero back in her apron.

Alice smiled, dusting her sleeves.  “Oh yes. You have not been lax on your training; good.”

Marisa’s eye twitched in irritation.  “Just who-”

“Miss Alice!”  Free from the maid, Reimu flew up to the two.  “I remember now! It’s Miss Alice from Makai!”

Grinning, Alice gave a slight bow.  “Well done, Miss Hakurei!”

Marisa looked at Reimu, then Alice, peering at her.  “Oh shit, you’re right. Damn kid, you got tall.”

“I’m sorry I forgot…”

“Quite alright dear; I’ve actually cast a spell on my identity to protect my home,” she winked, “being Shinki’s daughter outside of Her realm’s protection can lead to problems if various unsavory groups were to learn of it.  I wasn’t sure if it would work on people who already knew me, so I when I saw you, I decided to stress test it. Sorry if I scared you.”

“It’s okay; I knew Marisa would protect me!”

The human magician cleared her throat.  “At any rate, what do you know about this eternal winter problem?”

Reimu tugged on her sleeve.  “Sorry, I didn’t get a chance to tell you; someone is gathering Spring!  That’s why it’s still Winter.”

“If your rural training is half as good as you claim, simply attune yourself to Spring,” Alice handed the magician a handful of swirling pink petals, “and follow where it’s being drawn to.”

Marisa stared at the puppeteer.  “...you’re still holding a grudge from when I kicked your ass in Makai, aren’t you?”

Alice grinned.  “Mm, I’ve simply learned danmaku isn’t the only way to win.  Ah, speaking of winning...” she handed the shrine maiden a doll, reminiscent of what Reimu herself looked like when she had traveled to Makai the first time.  “A present for remembering.”

“Wow…!”  Her eyes lit up.  “This is amazing! Thank you, Miss Alice!”

“You’re welcome.  However- hm…” Alice held her chin as she looked over the shrine maiden.  “Here.” Removing her capelet, she wrapped it around Reimu’s shoulders. “You look way too cold in that outfit.  If I had brought a scarf, that would help, but…”

Marisa gave the two a flat stare.  “Why does everyone want to give her clothes?”  She muttered, glancing at Sakuya. “Is her outfit that bad?  Is that why everyone wants to change it?”

Sakuya covered her mouth, suppressing a snicker.  “N-no, I think it’s just because she’s… you know, tiny and adorable.  It’s like getting outfits for a doll.”

The shrine maiden embraced her friend from Makai.  “Thank you!” Floating next to Marisa, Reimu turned around and waved one more time.  “Stop by the Hakurei Shrine later! We usually have a party when we take care of things like this!”

Marisa sighed.  “Dammit, stop inviting people like her over…”

“I’ll be sure to take you up on that; take care folks.”

As Alice left, Marisa took some time to focus on the petals handed to her.  Her eyes followed an unseen aether trail lifting into the sky.

“This way; let’s go.”

“Well, she seemed… interesting.”  Sakuya commented as they set off towards their destination.  “Not sure why she attacked us, though.”

Reimu and Marisa exchanged glances.

“Just wanted to test some new spell cards, I guess.”  Marisa turned her eyes back towards the trail, “and she knew I wouldn’t go easy on her.”

“Hm, I suppose that’s just one of the dangers of developing a reputation.”

“...yep.”

Sakuya glanced at the magician, grinning.  “Regret your life choices?”

Marisa sneered.  “If anyone should regret their choices in life, it should be the World when it left me to die.  Master Mima has shown me the path to greatness, and I walk it with every step I take.”

Reimu reached out and set a hand on her shoulder.  Marisa glanced over and smiled at her. “So how about you, Sakuya?”  Correcting her course slightly, she glanced at their maid companion. “Any regrets in your life?”

She blinked.  “Wha- why do you ask?”

Marisa threw up a hand, steering the broom with her legs.  “Come on! For all we know this is fuckin’ Fimbulwinter! There’s a good chance we’re all gonna _die_ here!  You asked and I answered, so now it’s your turn!  You got any regrets, or are you just going to share ‘em with some yama that’s not gonna fuckin’ care anyway?”

“I… didn’t expect an honest answer out of you, actually…”

“Sakuya!  You work for a _fucking devil._  You of all people should know what you expect and what you get have no bearing on the goddamn price!”

“N-no, I know, it’s just-”

“Screaming fairy!” Reimu pointed.  Grabbing the shrine maiden, Marisa made a hard turn, narrowly avoiding the danmaku burst.

“It’s~ SPRIIING~!”  The fairy shouted joyfully as it flew by.

“I think we’re getting close to the Spring build-up.”  Sakuya mused, watching the girl loop around for another pass.

“KILL IT WITH KNIVES!”  Marisa screamed, juggling the shrine maiden and handful of Spring while riding the broom.  The maid lept into action, cutting off the energetic fairy before it could intercept.

The magician let out a sigh as she corrected herself and let go of her sister.  “Don’t think that one can be reasoned with, sweetie; sorry.”

Reimu smiled sadly as she watched the fight.  “No… no, I’m not sure she’s… aware of the firepower she’s letting out.  At least the spell card rules will keep her from real danger, at any rate.”

“...so do you have any regrets?”  Marisa asked quietly.

Reimu continued to watch the fight, holding the magician’s sleeve.  “...I wish I knew what I did to anger my god into leaving.” She whispered.  “I… I don’t think I’d have the same level of strength as you or Mima, but I’d probably at least be able to help you more.”

Marisa pulled her sister closer.  “Hey now, hey now… we’ve told ya before, your god abandoning its post had nothin’ to do with you; it up and did that well before you were born.”

“Well, yeah, but-”

“Nuh-uh, no buts!  Both Mima and I are happy to live with you; you ain’t a burden, arright?”

“...okay.”

“I mean, sure, it’d be great if you could stop inviting strangers that tried to beat us up over to the shrine, _but…_ ”

Reimu giggled; Marisa grinned.

“But really… that’s just how you do your job.  It’s how we work as a _team_ \- I make them willing to listen, and you tell them what they need to hear so they stop being a bunch of jackasses.”

“Yeah!”

“Arright, now… it looks like the maid is done.”

“She really cleaned up that fairy, eh?”

Marisa stopped and frowned at her sister.  Reimu grinned.

 

“And… there… is our destination.”  Marisa announced as they approached a titanic set of doors in the sky.  The essence of Spring had become thick enough for both Sakuya and Reimu to see it without mystical help.  The stream flowed into the closed doors, into a realm unknown.

“Looks like it has guardians…”  Sakuya squinted at some figures in front of the door.  “...that, or buskers.”

“Think it’s kinda difficult to busk with a keyboard.” Marisa commented.

“Well, you can’t exactly guard with one, either.”

“Hello~!”  Reimu waved to the three in front of the door as they came within speaking distance.

The violinist in black glanced up.  “...Lady Saigyouji already has her performers… and I don’t think she was looking for clowns, anyway.”

Marisa’s lip curled.  Reimu tilted her head.

“Hm?  We’re following the Spring; I’m Reimu and this is Marisa; we’re from the Hakurei Shrine.  And that’s Sakuya; she’s from the Scarlet Devil Mansion.”

“That’s nice.”  She turned her attention back to her violin.  The girl dressed in red looked up from her keyboard and grinned.

“We’re the Poltergeist Musical Performance Ensemble!  I am Lyrica, the one on violin is Lunasa, and the trumpeter is Merlin!  We were called here to perform~”

“Neat!  What’s happening?”

“There will soon be a cherry blossom viewing at the mansion.”  Merlin informed her with a smile.

“Oh, that sounds like fun.”

Though her smile remained, Merlin’s eyes narrowed.  “You have _not_ been invited.”

“O-oh.”  The shrine maiden pulled the capelet tighter, a chill running down her spine.  Lunasa and Lyrica began to move in.

“Unwanted noise will be drowned out.”  Lunasa readied her violin.

Before she could move her bow, the sound of a saw blade hitting waterlogged lumber blast out from behind Reimu.  As the echoing eruption died down, the four slowly looked in the direction it came from.

Marisa, her face blank, lowered her leg and sat properly on the broom once more.  Sakuya pulled away from the magician looking absolutely horrified.

“Considering everyone heard that…” She started.

“Do you need to change your _bloomers?!_ ”  The maid pulled her scarf around her nose.  “Oh- oh _gods_ that sounded so _wet_.”

“...I’d say that means your music’s unwanted.”  She pulled up alongside Reimu and put a hand on her shoulder, gently pulling her back.  “I’ll need an assist here, Sakuya; let’s make it two to three.”

The maid pulled up beside her.  “Only if you promise never to do that again.”

“Get back Reimu, just uh... not where Sakuya was; don’t wanna be downwind of that!”

 

Although the three spirits could make an effective symphony, their harmonization was unable to hold up against the combined might of Marisa and Sakuya.

“I’m very sorry,” Reimu apologized to the three as Marisa began to break down the doors, “but we need to get Spring returned before it begins to harm the rest of Gensokyo.  You’re more than welcome to play at the Hakurei Shrine, if you’d like!”

Marisa sighed.  Merlin smiled wryly as she inspected her trumpet.

“We may take you up on that.  Take care, Miss Hakurei… I hope things turn out well for you.”

“Thank you!”

“Just be careful…”  Lunasa glanced at the doors as they buckled and gave way, “The Netherworld is not a good place to lose your life.”

“Few places are.”  Sakuya commented. The musician in black held her gaze.

“That… is what most people choose to believe, yes.”

“At any rate, time for retuning!”  Lyrica waved as the three mortals passed through the doors.  “Take care; tell Miss Saigyouji we probably won’t be able to make it!”

“So… are all of your missions this interesting?”  Sakuya asked as they passed through the doors.

“Sometimes.”  Marisa shrugged.  “I mean, one time, we had to fight against some dumb, scrawny vampire who thought she was really important or something.”

“Oh?  She sounds super cool and very charismatic.”

Reimu smiled as she listened to their banter.  Once inside, a massive staircase greeted them, stretching up as far as their eyes can see.  Despite the flow of Spring from the other side, it seemed to all but disappear inside the Netherworld.

The magician held up the essence of Spring and closed her eyes.  Reciting a few words of magic, the air around them pulsed; traces of the missing season began to flow around them, adding to what Marisa carried.

“This’ll be quicker if we move.”  She nodded as she took to the air.  “Plus, this is bound to draw attention.  Come on.”

Wind swirled around the three as they flew up the stairs, gathering Spring along the way.  Halfway up, a glint of light caught Reimu’s eye.

“Ah!”  She pointed.  Steering with her knees, Marisa brought hand her up and formed a multilayered shield.  Before the last one could form, a silver-haired girl clad in green slammed two swords down, shattering all but the final barrier.  Her attack deflected, she pushed herself off the final crumbling barrier as Marisa fetched her focus.

“Humans… that Spring will do nicely.”  She pointed her large katana in their direction  “Hand it over!”

“Get on!”

As Reimu hopped on the back of the broom, Marisa and Sakuya split up to dodge the rain of fire.  After a few exchanged blows, the assailant, her attention suddenly pulled elsewhere, jumped back and disappeared up the stairs.

“Well.”  Marisa sighed as they were alone once more.

“She seemed friendly.”  the maid snarked as the continued to move.

“Stay on the broom, sis… she’s quick, and I don’t want her to try and target you.”

“Okay.”

“I know you don’t like it, but we may have to wait to take her down before you can talk to her; she seems a little hot-headed.”

“N-no, I know… it does no good to ask for peace when they’re in mid-lunge.”

As they continued their journey, waves of phantoms soon greeted them.  While Marisa imagined they were meant to slow them down, she instead found it to be good practice for attacking and steering with her hands full.

At the top of the stairs, the swordswoman stood, her back to them.  Her hand rested upon the hilt of her wakizashi as she looked over the endless field of cherry trees.  As the three arrived at the top, she turned their way.

“...and here I thought you would have known to leave.”  Her eyes narrowed. “The Netherworld is not a place for humans to play.  I suggest you leave ‘fore you join the ranks of those who reside here.”

“I always thought the Netherworld would be harder to get into, myself.” Sakuya commented, paying more attention to the trees than the opponent in front of them.

“I know, right?”  Marisa grinned. “I’m surprised more people haven’t just wandered in.”

The girl blinked.  “The only reason why people might wander in here is because _you_ broke the barrier.  That’s like stepping over a sign warning of a wet floor and then crying when you slip.”

“Hey, don’t try to say that flimsy door-”

“Marisa…!”  Reimu tugged at her sleeve, pouting.  “She’s not attacking…!”

The magician hung her head and sighed.  “Stay close, please…” She muttered as Reimu hopped off the broom.  The girl frowned as the shrine maiden approached and bowed.

“Hello, Miss!  I’m Reimu, and this is my sister Marisa; we’re from the Hakurei Shrine!  And this is our friend Sakuya, she’s from the Scarlet Devil Mansion. Would you be willing to share your name with us?”

“...Youmu Konpaku.  Gardener and Fencing Instructor of Hakugyokurou.”  She gave a stiff bow.

“Odd combination of jobs…”  Marisa commented.

Youmu stared at Marisa for a moment before returning her attention to the shrine maiden.  “...your sister courts disaster.”

“S-sorry about that!”  She bowed quickly. “We’ve been researching the missing Spring of Gensokyo, and it lead us here.  Can you tell us about it?”

“It’s being gathered to allow the Saigyou Ayakashi to bloom.  Just a little more should do it.” Her hand moved from the shorter blade to the katana.  “I believe what you have should suffice.”

Reimu took a step back.  “I-I’m sorry, but I don’t think we can hand it over without understanding the importance of what you’re doing.  What is the Saigyou Ayakashi?”

The sound of drawn steel filled the air.  “The time for discussion is over. If you will not hand it over, I shall take it by force!”

“Oi!”  The shrine maiden suddenly disappeared, leaving only Marisa in front of Youmu, her mini-hakkero glowing.  The gardener leapt out of the way of the Master Spark, her skirt singed.

“Hmph!  I should have expected such cheap tactics from ones so unrefined as yourselves!”  Youmu shouted as the two combatants took to the air. Marisa felt her eye twitch.

“Bitch, you just drew your fuckin’ pig sticker against an unarmed girl who wanted to settle things peacefully.  Do _not_ cry cheap tactics to me.”

“Enough talk!”  The wakizashi joined the steel chorus.  “Have at you!”

 

“You two certainly live interesting lives…” Sakuya commented, watching the fight from afar.  She still held Reimu in her arms, having carried her out of the battle zone while time was stopped.

“It can be scary, but it’s kinda fun.”  She tilted her head back, trying to look at the maid.  “Sorry if it isn’t what you were hoping for.”

“Oh, don’t worry sweetie; it hasn’t been anything I couldn’t handle.  It’s been an enjoyable experience. I don’t know if Master Remilia will let me come with you all the time, but I won’t say I’ve disliked it.”

“That’s good.”

“I must admit though, I’m surprised you stick with it.  It seems a little… violent for your tastes.”

“Well, I mean, it’s my job, you know?”  They watched Marisa fend off Youmu, still holding the gathered Spring in one hand.  “I should be the one out there, fighting her off for Gensokyo. But… I can’t. So Marisa does it for me.  And… I’m really glad she can, you know? But I don’t want to leave her to do it all by herself.”

“That’s… understandable, I suppose.”

“While I kinda wish people would listen before Marisa bopped them, I’m mostly glad they’re willing to afterwards at least.”

“Ah, speaking of which.”

After falling for a feint, Youmu took three direct hits from Marisa before stumbling.  The swordswoman let out one more burst of danmaku before fleeing.

“Really?!”  Marisa shouted.  “We’re not just going to leave ‘cause you ran away, you know!”

“Time to give pursuit?”  The maid asked as they approached.

“Yeah, come on.”

The cherry trees almost seemed to glow against the dark sky of the netherworld.  As they passed through the grove, they could see a massive dead tree off in the distance.

“It’s really beautiful here…”  Reimu stared in awe.

“That dead tree is kinda givin’ me the willies, though.”

“Not one step further…!”  From the direction of the building opposite the tree, Youmu came down with lightning speed.  Ready for her, Marisa’s shield deflected the attack as the magician blasted her. Stunned from the counter attack, Youmu was unable to defend herself and quickly fell to Marisa’s onslaught.

“Aaah!  Marisa…!”  Reimu shook her sister.

“Relax, she’s fine!”

“Perhaps, but I don’t think she’ll be answering any questions right now, either.”  Sakuya informed them, checking on the unconscious girl.

“Come on, whatever’s goin’ on, that thing’s at the center of it.”  Ignoring her sister’s concerned stare for their opponent, the magician moved towards the large dead tree.

 

“So many trees…!”  Reimu looked over the rows and rows of trees, going as far as the eye could see.  The massive tree was still a good distance away from them.

“Oh, have you come for the cherry blossom viewing as well?”  A woman in a blue kimono approached from the direction of the tree, a tired smile on her face.  “There are still a few open seats, but…”

Marisa felt her skin prickle at the sight of the woman.  Beneath her top, she could feel one of her protective amulets begin to cool considerably, warning her of something.

“Oh, you still have open seats?”  The maid asked. The woman’s gaze fell on her.

“...you have _not_ been invited, dear.”

Reimu floated in front of Marisa and bowed.  “Hello, miss! My name is Reimu, my sister and I are here from the Hakurei Shrine; we’ve come to investigate the missing Spring from Gensokyo.  This is our friend Sakuya, she’s helping us. Can you tell us why the season of Spring has been gathering here?”

“Hello young Hakurei.  I am Yuyuko Saigyouji, Princess of the Netherworld.  And we have been gathering the Spring to allow the Saigyou Ayakashi to bloom.”  She motioned to the giant dead tree behind her. At the base, they could see blessed ropes and seals adorning the trunk.  “Just a little more Spring, and we shall be able to break the seal… and witness a perfect bloom.”

“Wwwhat’s sealed underneath it?”  The magician asked, wary of what was unfolding.  Yuyuko turned and smiled.

“I have no idea.”

“Are you fuckin’ seri-!”

Reimu cut her sister off before she could continue.  “Wouldn’t it be best to find out first, then? It may be dangerous, and the way you have gathered Spring is having harmful effects on Gensokyo; it is still a deep, bitter Winter because of this.”

“Hm, we’ve come this far, I see no reason to stop.  And if it is a dangerous individual… well, I can invite them to their death easy enough.”  

Marisa could feel goosebumps travel up her arms as realization of what the amulet’s warning was struck her.  A cold sweat began to overtake her as her adrenaline kicked in.

The spectral woman’s eyes drifted to the Spring in Marisa’s hand.  “If… you’d be willing to hand that over…”

An orb of force surrounded the Spring; the magician jerked her sister back behind her, keeping her eyes on Yuyuko.

“Take this and run.”  She ordered, shoving the globe in her hands.

“Wha-?”

“She commands death!  I can’t protect you from that!  The only thing I can do is keep her away from you.  Go! Now!” The maid and the shrine maiden suddenly disappeared.  Marisa sighed, calming herself.

“I regret to inform you…” The magician readied her mini-hakkero, speaking slowly, “the blossom viewing shall be held at the Hakurei Shrine.  And because I know she would be cross if I did not say so,” she gave a tight smile, “you are invited to join us.”

An unearthly power swirled around Yuyuko.  “I see… well then, let’s see if you have the strength to make your statements come true.”

 

Time began to flow once more, Reimu found herself with Sakuya, near the mansion.

“Ah!  No- Sakuya!” She cried as she realized where she was.  Off in the distance, she could see the fight start.

“Hey, listen to me!”  Sakuya grabbed her before she could run off.  She turned Reimu to face her. “ _Listen_.  If you’re there in the fight, Marisa won’t be able to give it her all.  You need to have faith in her. Okay?”

Although Reimu nodded, she could not hide her concern.

“I… will try to help her if I can.  The spell card rules should protect her, but if Yuyuko breaks them, I will do what I can to assist.”

“Please be careful!”

As Sakuya flew off, Reimu turned her attention to Youmu.  Her breathing and pulse were stable, but she remained unconscious.  The shrine maiden looked back at the fight, then back to Youmu. The thought of leaving her knocked out did not sit well with Reimu, despite their previous encounters.

She looked back towards the fight once more.  Marisa seemed to be holding her own, though Reimu could see Yuyuko was no stranger to such encounters.  She could see Sakuya far off to the side; she stayed out of the magician’s way as to not distract her, but close enough she could watch Yuyuko’s actions to avoid fire.

Something nudged the shrine maiden.  Turning around, she could see a semi-transparent blob floating in front of her, a tail leading to Youmu.  The phantom gave her another headbutt and floated back to the unconscious girl. Reimu kneeled beside her and looked her over once more; there was no change to her body.  Setting the orb of Spring in her lap, Reimu bit her lip as she rummaged through her satchel. Pulling out the healing potion Marisa always made her carry, she slowly administered it to Youmu.

The gardener opened her eyes as she let out a groan.

“Wha- you!”  She pushed Reimu away and reached for her sword.  The sheath was empty. “My sword! What did you-?!”

“Ah, I’m sorry!  I believe they fell over here!  One moment!”

As the shrine maiden scampered off to pick up her opponent’s fallen blades, the phantom swirled around Youmu.  It gave her a bump before the gardener took it in her hands, caressing it. Memories of what had occurred while she knocked out poured into her.

“H-here you are!”  She held them out and bowed.  “Sorry about that; things have been getting a bit hectic!”

Youmu slowly took her swords back.  She gave the shrine maiden an incredibly confused look while sheathing them.

“Why did you do that?”

Reimu shifted the globe of Spring back to both her hands.  “What do you mean?”

“Why did you heal me?”  She asked. “And return my weapons?”

It was Reimu’s turn to look confused.  “I- why wouldn’t I?”

“Do you not see me as a threat?”

“I-” Reimu frowned, considering the question.  “I don’t think you’re evil. Your… um,” she motioned to the phantom, “your friend was concerned for you.”

“That- no, that’s not my friend, that’s me.  It’s the other half of me.”

The shrine maiden tilted her head.

“I’m half-phantom.”

“Oh!  That’s neat!  But um...” she watched the ghostly blob bump into her human half again, “...why do you keep doing that to yourself?”

Grabbing her other half, Youmu grit her teeth, blushing slightly.  “I don’t know; half of me has been acting weird ever since-” she suddenly stopped, looking away from the orb of Spring.

The sound of a Master Spark filled the air; both turned towards the battle to see Yuyuko falling.

“Master!”  The gardener started to dash towards the fight, but Reimu grabbed her sleeve.

“Wait, please!”

“Let go of me!”

“Marisa won’t harm her after the battle, I promise!”

Shaking off the Hakurei’s grip, she turned and glared at her.  “Why are you even here?! Why did you come and harass us?!”

“Because by gathering the Spring like you did, it was hurting Gensokyo.”

The swordswoman blinked, surprised.  “W-what? No… no, that-”

“It’s still a deep winter in the world outside of here.  No one can plant crops, and animals are waking from hibernation only to find there’s still no food.  It’s only a matter of time before it turns to starvation and death. We didn’t come to spoil your plans, but…” Reimu trailed off, looking behind Youmu towards where the fight had been.  “W… what’s she…?”

 

The human magician was a bit of an enigma to Yuyuko.  She had heard no word from her friend about the Hakurei having a companion, let alone one so strong.  As much as she tried to concentrate on the fight, something else pulled at the back of her mind; a mental itch she could not scratch.

Shaking her head, she held up a hand to launch her next attack, only to find her limb in the process of fading away.  Terror grabbed her unbeating heart as she looked at both of her hands, not knowing what was happening to her.

A bright light appeared in front of her.  The last thing Yuyuko saw were the glowing trigrams of the mini-hakkero before the Master Spark engulfed her.

 

“No idea what distracted her, but thank the gods for small favors…”  Marisa muttered to herself as she watched the ghost fall out of the sky.  With the fight over, the magician drifted down and took a better look at the base of the tree.  Still keeping a good distance away, she recognized the symbols on the seals. “...shit.”

“Everything alright?”  Sakuya called out.

“The seals are of the Hakurei Clan.”

“Oh.   _Oh._ ”

“ _Yeah._  Not only that, they’re…” The magician paused as she realized the air was starting to thicken.  Light and mist began to coalesce as she pulled away from the tree, trying to find the focal point.

“In front!  Look out!”

Looking up, Marisa saw Yuyuko, devoid of color and emotion, a scant few yards away.  The ghost raised her hands, releasing a burst of energy.

 

As time began to flow once more, Marisa found herself dozens of yards away from Yuyuko.

“Thanks for the save.” She gasped as she corrected her broom.

“Well, I figured if she’s going to cheat, no reason I shouldn’t give you a hand.”  Sakuya smiled. “How should we go about this?”

“I’ll need you to stay back,” the two dodged the hail of fire from their opponent, her eyes closed and her face still unmoving, “the seals on the tree?  Those were specifically for a _youkai_.  I don’t know what the fuck is going on, but keep a distance.  If I fall…” she risked a glance at the maid, “get Reimu out of here.”

“Understood.”

The magician pulled away from Sakuya and charged into the fight, returning her own fire.  As the initial wave of fear wore off and her senses acclimated to battle once more, Marisa noticed tendrils of energy connecting Yuyuko to the tree.  Weaving through the curtains of firepower, she spotted a leaf on one of the massive branches. Her eyes returned to the spectral princess.

There was a twitch of her eyebrow.  Yuyuko’s face slowly contorted to a grimace as she grit her teeth.  Marisa noticed the direction of the flow of energy between the ghost and the tree.  Her amulet froze.

“ _SAKUYA!_ ”  Marisa yelled.  “ _GET AWAY, RIGHT NO-_ ”

Yuyuko screamed, shaking the foundations of the Netherworld.

 

“W-what is she-?”  Reimu gasped as they watched the ghost princess rise once more.  “She… she’s breaking the rules!”

Youmu started to charge in her direction once more.

“No, you mustn’t!”  Once more, the shrine maiden grabbed the gardener.  “You’re still injured, and it’s extremely dangerous with the rules down!”

“Shut up!”  She pushed the small girl away, glaring down at her.  “This- this is all your fault!”

“If- if it is, we will help you with what you were trying to do, but we first need to find a way that won’t harm Gen-”

“No.  No, Lady Yuyuko would never do such a thing!  That’s a lie!” Youmu’s phantom half tried to bump into her solid body, but she paid it no mind as she screamed at Reimu.

“It isn’t.  Just look outside the Neth-”

The sound of steel filled the air as Youmu drew her blade, pointing it at the shrine maiden’s throat.  “I won’t listen to you insult my master like that anymore.”

“...do you truly fear my words that much?”  She stared up at the gardener; her eyes filled with sorrow and fear.  She felt a pin-prick on the hollow of her neck. Youmu’s lip curled in anger, but said nothing.

Reimu’s attention was drawn to the fight behind Youmu once more.  Her eyes widened.

“The- the tree…” She whispered, frightened.  “It’s consuming her.”

“I said shut-”

Yuyuko screamed.  Youmu turned.

The blade moved.

The shrine maiden fell.

 

“They’re _where?_ ”  Mima asked as she moved the finished food off of the counter.

“The Netherworld, according to the doll.” Alice repeated, glancing at a doll resembling the human magician from a few years ago.  The puppeteer had gone to the shrine after cleaning herself up from the fight with Marisa. The evil spirit was less than pleased to see her at first, but since she seemed to be successfully teaching Ruukoto how to cook, she decided to let it slide for the moment.  “It seems someone has been gathering the season to bloom a tree there.”

“Why…” Mima thought aloud before realization struck her.  “ _Oh,_ it’s probably that bitch sage’s friend.  Still, what the hell is she trying…?”

“Not too sure; it seems-”  The puppeteer went quiet for a moment as she listened to the chatter from the other end.  “-hrm; sounds like the servant is confused about what’s going on… she’s kinda taking it out on Reimu.”

“Yeah, well if she harms my niece, she’ll go from working in the afterlife to living there.”

“I’d like to say I don’t think she’ll do that, but-”

Yuyuko’s scream came through the doll, shocking all three of them.  Alice and Mima stared at the doll.

“That was a fucking banshee wail!”  Mima slowly looked at the puppeteer.  Alice continued staring at the doll, her eyes widening in absolute fear.  “...what? What’s wrong?”

“Shanghai!  Grimoire, now!”  As the doll flew off, the spirit grabbed her arm and pulled her around.

“ _What is happening?_ ”

“Reimu is dying.”

 

Having served two devils, a dragon, and a magician for several decades, Sakuya had witnessed many strange things while time was frozen.  From lightning bolts connecting the sky and ground, to doors the instant they succumbed to Flandre’s rage, the chief maid had seen a lot.

But for all she had witnessed, none had prepared her for the sight of an expanding wall of absolute death.

The maid was uncertain of what exactly made her realize the fatal properties of what she could see; some primal knowledge hardcoded to all living creatures seemed to be the source.  It had already engulfed Marisa, the magician still in mid-shout of a warning. She was uncertain if her friend was still alive or not, and she knew she did not have what was needed to stop their opponent.  Her friend’s last request at the forefront of her mind, she flew as fast as she could to the mansion.

The pocket watch shut.

The pocket watch opened once more.

Sakuya looked back to see death inches from her face.  She realized she was attempting to outrun sound, something the maid had attempted many times in the past when her Master was on a mandragora root kick.

She flew once more.  Although she was well aware of the fact she would not actually be able to escape the scream, she knew may be possible to outpace the worst of the effects.  Off in the distance the maid could see the gardener, sword drawn.

“What-”

The pocket watch shut.

The wail slammed into her back; her body and soul shivered independently of one another.  Despite the horrific feeling, Sakuya remained alive. Looking back where Marisa was, she could see the magician was still somehow upright and fighting.  As she began to head back to help her friend, she glanced back towards Youmu, remembering the confusing sight.

The gardener stood over the shrine maiden.  Reimu was not moving.

 

“Oh, the interference is bad here.  Ah, excuse me! Can I bother you for a moment?  I need a guide…”

 

The cold spot on Marisa’s chest disappeared as the amulet crumbled, unable to absorb anymore unliving energies.  She could see Yuyuko was still in pain; the magician knew she would not be able to survive another scream.

The tree continued to feed off of the ghost, trying to absorb the rest of her essence to break through the weakened seals.

“Marisa!”  The maid screamed, appearing next to her.

“Wha- I told you to get-!”  The magician interrupted herself with a double take; she had never seen the maid so uncomposed before.

“You need to finish this now!  Reimu, she’s-” Sakuya stopped, unable to put words to her fears.  “She needs you now!”

“Gods fucking _dammit...!_ ”  A creeping terror started to fill Marisa as she dug through her satchel, weaving through the blasts still coming from their opponent.  “Get back!”

The magician downed an opaque potion; blue flames burst from her body as hypercondensed mana coursed through her veins.  The seemingly-faint connection the tree had to Yuyuko now flared brightly to Marisa. Ignoring the dangers around her, she aimed the mini-hakkero at the origin point of the tree and let loose with a Final Master Spark.

 

“Oh wow!”

“Yeah, that looks bad, let’s not g-”

“I want to go there!”

She sighed.  “...of course you do.”

 

The ground trembled as Marisa pruned the Saigyou Ayakashi; Youmu felt her mind reel as its influence finally left her.  Her katana hit the ground once more as she looked at Reimu, remembering what had just occurred.

Dropping down next to her, she could see that though she still lived, she was fading fast.  Fear and confusion filled her eyes as she looked at the gardener.

“Aaah…!  Uh, p-put pressure on it!”  Youmu placed Reimu’s hand over the slice, trying not to panic.  Little made sense as she tried to remember what had happened, why she had been so angry with this girl she did not know, and if she even had what was needed to heal her.  As she tried in vain to remember where their medical kit was, Youmu became dimly aware of another scream. Unlike the last one, the one she heard was pure fury… and it was growing louder by the second.

“ **What the fuck did you do to my sister?!** ”

The gardener flinched as Marisa landed nearly on top of her.  Blue flames flickered over her body as she clenched her fists.  The magician’s golden eyes glared down, making her legs lock up on her.

“It- i-i-it was an accident!”

“Get away from her NOW!”

Another pair of hands grabbed her from behind; the maid carried her away as Marisa moved down next to Reimu.

“It’ll be okay, it’ll be okay, just hang on, okay?”  She whispered to her sister as she dug through the shrine maiden’s bag.  After a few moments, her search became more frantic. “Where- where is it?!”

“What’s missing?”  Sakuya asked, setting Youmu next to Yuyuko; the spectral princess was in an addled state, still reeling from the fight.

“Her- her healing potion!  I always make sure she has one!”

Blood still oozing from between her fingers, the shrine maiden shook her head slightly.

“Reimu!  What happened to it?”

“She… she gave it to me.”  Youmu admitted, shaking.

The magician stared incredulously at her.  Shaking her head, she began to dig through her own bag.  Her breathing began to grow frantic.

“Where… where… where the fuck-!”  Not finding what she was after, Marisa dumped the contents on the ground, and began to throw things to the side.

“She’s held on a lot longer than I thought she would…” The maid whispered to herself.  Youmu pointed a shaky hand to the globe the Hakurei still held.

“I think the Spring is keeping her alive, but…”

The petals swirled frantically inside; only a small fraction of what once was there remained.

The contents of Marisa’s bags and apron were strewn out over a wide area; she gripped her head in a hand, trying to think.  She looked at Sakuya, desperation in her eyes. “Sakuya, would you be able to get her to the mansion in time?”

The maid shook her head, tears stinging her eyes.  “I’m sorry, I’ve used too much of my strength. Even if I hadn’t; multiple jumps like that become very hard on the body.  If I did bring her to Patchouli… she would not make the trip.”

Her options exhausted, she looked down at her sister and began to cry.  Reimu smiled up at her sadly; she opened her mouth, but no sound came out.  Marisa caressed her face, unable to see her clearly through the tears.

“I- I’m sorry, Reimu.  I failed you. I’m sorry.”

“Man, I’m usually droppin’ off work here, not pickin’ it up.”

Marisa, Sakuya, and Youmu looked over to see a redheaded woman with an artistically bent scythe resting on her shoulder.  A short woman with light blue hair stood next to her. The redhead looked down at the two on the ground, then at the woman next to her.

“This what you’re after?”

“Yes, thank you.”

“So long as I don’t have to collect ‘em, I’ll call it even.”  She turned around a gave a wave. “Later.”

“Sh-Shinki?”  She stared, unbelieving.  “What…?”

“Alice sent me.”  The god of Makai brushed back Reimu’s bangs and looked at her, concerned.  “I would go into more detail, but…”

“That- that’s fine!  Can you save her?”

“I… need to save both of you, Marisa.”  She gave her an embarrassed smile. “You’re still burning.”

The magician looked down at herself, realizing the flames were still there.  “I-”

The god placed her free hand on the magician.  “Don’t worry, I can do both at once.”

Pulling her hand away, the excess mana left Marisa’s body.  Swirling it about, Shinki brought it down onto the fading sphere of Spring; the last few remaining petals began to multiply rapidly, until it completely filled the container.

“That… was not a healthy amount of mana to have in your body, dear.”  The god gently pulled Marisa away as cracks began to appear along the orb.

“It… was an emergency.”  With the energy pulled from her, the magician felt exhausted.

Unable to hold anymore, the force sphere finally gave way, allowing the Spring to go free.  Petals swirled around the shrine maiden, lifting her off the ground. Colour began to return to her skin as her wound slowly closed.

“There we go…” Shinki’s form started to fade as the Spring dispersed, heading back to where it belonged.  “Sorry to end this visit so soon, but I could only send a fraction of myself on such short notice. Take care, you two…”

“Thank you, Shinki… thank you.”  With the god back in her realm, Marisa crawled back over to the shrine maiden.  “Reimu? Are… are you okay?”

She looked up and nodded.  “I… can’t move. I’m… I’m tired.  I’m sorry.” Tears welled up in her eyes as she looked at Marisa; the events of the last few minutes finally slammed home.  “I’m sorry.”

Marisa pulled her up and hugged her tightly.  “I thought I lost you.” She began to sob as well.  “I thought I lost you.”

 

The trip back to Gensokyo was slow and quiet.  The three of them were emotionally exhausted, and the two from the Hakurei Shrine were physically tired as well.  The shrine maiden drifted in and out of sleep in Marisa’s arms during the flight. Sakuya flew next to Marisa, making sure to correct the magician’s path as she drifted.  While the residents of Hakugyokurou had become much more accommodating since the fight, Marisa and Sakuya did not wish to hang around. Reimu, however, did make sure to give Youmu a hug before leaving.

“Thanks f’r… f’r joining us on this.”  Marisa nodded as the maid pushed the broom to the west.  The village was coming into sight. “I… think we’d have been in trouble if you hadn’t tagged along.”

“I’m glad to have accompanied you.” She smiled.  “That said, you seem like the type to adjust your plans for what you have.”

“What I _think_ I have, at least…”

“Mm.”  Reimu squirmed in her arms a bit.

“Sorry kiddo; we’ll keep it down.”

“‘Sokay.”  She mumbled, skating the border of conscious and unconscious.  “If you’re talking, you’re not sleeping… that’s important… for flying.”

“Heh heh… that it is… that it is…”

“Almost there,”  Sakuya pulled the broom east, “stay with me now.”

 

The shrine was quiet as they landed outside.  Through the lit doors, the three could see movement inside as they took off their boots.

“I should head back to the mansion-”  Sakuya began to say as Marisa stood back up.  The magician grabbed her sleeve before she could leave.

“Fuck that; I know your boss is awake and she’s just going to put you to work right away.  Stay the night; get some rest.”

“Stay with us, Miss Sakuya~”  Reimu yawned.

“Well, I suppose I would be of little use to my master with how I am right now.”  She nodded. “Very well, I shall take you up on that offer.”

As they turned to enter the shrine, the door opened.  Mima stared at Marisa and Reimu, saying nothing. Tears began to line her eyes as her face crumpled.

“I thought I had lost you two.”  She whispered as she hugged the two fiercely.

“Please don’t cry, Mom.”  Marisa sniffed. “Now _I’m_ gonna start cryin’ again…!”

“Well then maybe next time you won’t scare me so bad!”

 

As Mima ushered Reimu and Sakuya to the bathroom, Marisa stood in the living room with Alice.  While the human magician was not a fan of eating crow, she was not about to deny the puppeteer had saved her sister.

“...thank you for sending your mother to assist us,” She whispered, looking Alice dead in the eye.  “Reimu was saved because of that. I… suppose I was saved as well. I will do my best to repay you.”

She gave a stiff bow. As she turned to leave, Alice held out a hand, stopping her.

“I realize we’ve had an… antagonistic relationship,”  The puppeteer hugged her arms together, looking off to the side, “even in Makai, we taunted one another as you left, and I could easily see us holding our accomplishments over the other’s head.”  She looked back at Marisa, slowly shaking her head. “I don’t want… to be like that anymore. I know that would just upset Reimu, and… I think it’s safe to say neither of us ever want to see Reimu hurt, or sad.  I’d prefer to simply view this as we both did all we could to save her, and that’s why she’s alive.”

Marisa gave her a tired smile.  “I like that. I suppose in that case, thanks for the help, then.”

“Not a problem.  Thank you, as well.”

“If you don’t mind me asking though… how did you know?”

Glancing back at the kitchen, Alice held out a hand and motioned.  Shanghai came over, carrying another a doll of a young Marisa. She handed it to the human.  “I had some communication spells cast upon the two; I could hear what was happening through Reimu’s.”

“Nice.”

“Originally I figured I could assist if things started going south for you two, but when you went into the Netherworld, I realized I wouldn’t be able to follow, so instead I set up an alert in case she was hurt.  When… when that happened to her, I realized my mom was the only one who could reach her in time, and to be honest, that in itself was a longshot.”

“Well, it worked, so I can’t fault it.  Come on,” she pat her on the arm, “let’s wash up; we can keep talking over dinner.”

 

“You drank **what?!** ”  Both Alice and Mima shouted, interrupting Marisa’s story.  The magician sighed.

“My- my condensed æ-flow.  Look, I know it’s not a good th-”

“Not good?!  Marisa, you could have burned alive from your _soul igniting!_ “  Her mother stared at her wide-eyed.  “What were y-”

“ _I was thinking_ ‘hey, something happened to my sister that was bad enough to upset Sakuya, and I haven’t even seen Sakuya upset when I kick her master’s ass!  I bet it’s something kiiinda bad.’ _That’s_ what I was thinking.”  She downed her sake and sighed.  “Look, the ghost was going batshit, the tree was eating her, I could barely see the connection between them, let alone the origin point, and something bad happened to Reimu.  I was low on options.”

Mima sighed and covered her face.  “Arright, arright… but still-!”

“Ah, for the non-magically inclined…” Sakuya raised a hand; the group looked at her.  “What is an… æ-flow?”

“You want to field this one?” The ghost looked at Alice, “I think my voice needs a rest…”

“Oh wah.”  Her daughter shook her head.

“Certainly.  Miss Izayoi, you live with a magician, correct?”

“Yes.  And ‘Sakuya’ is fine.”

“Very well.  Your magician associate, is she the type to create items enhanced by magic?”  The maid nodded. “Good. Most items are imbued with magic upon their creation, and will work without maintenance for a long time… assuming they are not abused, at any rate.  Very large objects can require a constant power source, inorganic constructs and golems, for example. The power source is usually referred to as an ‘aetheric flow’. They can… theoretically be used to give oneself a rather large charge of power as well, oftentimes in long-term spells and rituals. If in such cases you lack enough people present for what you need, you can use an æ-flow to compensate.  Generally the only reason you use one then is you can mete out exactly how much you need, so you don’t end up with… excess in your body.”

“So… Marisa effectively drank rocket fuel, then?”

Alice cringed a bit.  “Nnnot exactly. A _condensed_ aetheric flow is typically stronger by…”  The puppeteer’s eyes shot to Reimu for a moment, “well, let’s put it this way:  Divine seals that hold back powerful creatures for several millennia without weakening?  To do that in an arcane fashion, you’d use half a batch of condensed æ-flow. Quite possibly less, depending on how well you can refine it.”

“We’ve got a pretty slick refinery here…” Marisa mumbled.

“S-so… that’s what you use to… match _gods_ , then?”  Sakuya asked, the implications of what she was learning starting to sink in.

“Yyyes…”

“So…” The maid slowly turned to Marisa,  “so, when those blue flames were wrapping around you…?”

Both Mima and Alice leaned on the table, staring wide-eyed at the human magician.

“That was my body attempting to vent power it could not hold…” she whispered quietly, taking another bite of dinner, “...and failing.”

“Wh-”

“Let’s… not dwell on this.”  Marisa interrupted. “It was an act of desperation.  If I have to resort to such things, that means I need to train harder, and keep a better selection of items on hand… such as multiple healing potions.”

Their dinner continued on, with Marisa filling in the rest of their adventure in the Netherworld.  It was not long before those at the shrine were ready for bed. For the first night in months, no one had to bundle up to stay warm.

 

Mima slid the door to the shrine open, looking out on the grounds.  The sound of birds chirping filled the air of the first early morning in a long while.  Between the shrine and the torii, Reimu swept the pathway.

The shrine maiden jumped as the ghost wrapped her arms around the girl’s shoulders, but smiled when she realized who it was.  “Good morning, auntie! Sleep well?”

“As well as I’m capable of.”  She looked out across the horizon with Reimu.  “Hard to believe just yesterday this was all snow.”

“Yeah… it’s almost like Spring started when it was supposed to.  Guess it has to do with however it was being contained.”

“Perhaps, perhaps…”

The shrine maiden continued to sweep, enjoying the company.

“Can I ask you something, sweetie?”

She turned her head to the ghost.  “Sure, what is it?”

“Are… you still planning to accompany Marisa with solving incidents?”

“Of course, why wouldn’t I?”

“Well, you kinda… sorta… scared the everloving shit out of me, dear.  That… that takes a lot to do to someone as old as I am.”

“Aw, I’m sorry… I didn’t mean to scare you.”

Mima rolled her eyes.  “Well- I _know_ you didn’t do it on purpose!  But- it’s just… I’m not sure you really understand how close you came to dying last night.”

“I was close enough to dying, that it required divine intervention from Makai to save me.”  She said softly, still sweeping.

“Yes.  That’s not something that most people can rely on, you understand that, right?”

“Yep!  It also means we need to do something nice for Shinki!”

“Y-yes, but one thing at a time, sweetie.”

Reimu looked up into the sky and smiled.  “Why did Shinki save me?”

Mima blinked.  “...because Alice contacted her.”

“Why did Alice contact her?”

The ghost squinted at the girl.  “Ar- are you trying to use my teaching method on me?!”

“Bup-bup-bup!” She countered, mimicking Mima perfectly.  “Answer the question now! Why did Alice contact her?”

“Because you were hurt.”

“But why did that concern her?”  She returned to sweeping.

“A- because she considers you a _friend_.”

“And why does she consider me a friend?”

The spectral magician let out a long sigh.  “Because you stuck up for her in Makai.”

“That’s right.  And I couldn’t have been her friend if I had stayed home that time.”  She began to sweep the various small piles of leaves into bigger piles.  “I’m pretty sure Alice would have survived without me there; after all, it could be argued that Marisa was only fighting so hard that time was because I was in danger.  But…” She stopped and turned to Mima, looking serious, “...what would have happened to Marisa in the Netherworld if I wasn’t there? She may not have resorted to drinking her potion-”

“Not a potion; not meant for consumption… _ever_. ”

“But then she may not have had what was needed to take down the tree.  Now,” She returned to sweeping, “you always tell us to not bother with ‘what if’; it’s a good way for guilt to consume you.  But what I do know is whenever I go out with Marisa, we make friends, and the friends we make never cause trouble like they did the first time.  Sure, they like to fight, but even you and her do that all the time, too.”

Mima opened and shut her mouth a few times, flabbergasted.  “...damn kid, you really _do_ pay attention to everything around you!”

Reimu giggled.  “I’ve had excellent teachers.”  She placed a hand over Mima’s. “I know there’s a lot of stuff that I can’t do that I should be able to… and there’s a lot that I’ll never comprehend that you two have understood your whole lives… but I love Gensokyo.  I want to make it better. I’d like it to get to a point where it won’t matter that my god left, ‘cause everyone gets along.” She stared at the leaves, thinking. “I know it probably won’t happen in my lifetime, but… if I’m always at the shrine, then I’ll never be able to help it get there.  And who knows, maybe if not my lifetime, then maybe my daughter’s or something.”

“Of course, that would require you meeting someone that both Marisa and I approve of…” Mima scratched her chin, squinting off in the distance.  “I have a feeling you’ll probably die a maiden, I’m afraid.”

“Aunite Mima!”

The ghost cackled.

“Well, I bet _Lady Remilia_ would marry me.”  Reimu stated, faking indignity.

“Sweetie, I love you and all, and I’ve come to tolerate her, but I will cold stake that bitch at the fuckin’ altar if she tried to marry you.  Juuust to warn ya.”

“‘Ey, what’s with all the jocularity out here?” Marisa called as she wandered out of the shrine, still in her robe.

“Auntie Mima is saying she’s going to kill my bride!”

“Oh are you getting married now?”  She walked over to the other two.

“Yes, to Lady Remilia.”

“Oh, oh sweetie.  Darling. My dear sister…” She placed a hand on Reimu’s shoulder and smiled sincerely.  “Mima wouldn’t kill Remilia… she wouldn’t get a chance to! I’d have already killed her many times over if I _ever_ thought there was a chance of that happening.  So don’t worry~”

“Oh, you’re so mean!”

“While I’m certain the subject is amusing to you…” Sakuya started, appearing out of thin air, “...I would appreciate it if you could refrain from talking about your fantasies of killing my master in my presence.”  She cleared her throat. “At any rate, breakfast is ready. Magister Margatroid is setting the table.”

“Sorry, Sakuya; didn’t realize you _were_ in our presence.” Marisa hooked her arm around the maid’s neck, bringing her down to the magician’s height.  “Tell ya what, you keep your master from marrying my sister, and I won’t kill her for that. Deal?”

“I’m fairly certain they would be a poor match anyway,” Sakuya countered, wresting herself from the magician’s grip.  The three looked at Reimu, considering the available options.

“Patche would probably be a good match.”  Marisa thought aloud.

“Er…” Sakuya looked away, uneasy.  “She’s… a corrupting force.”

Mima chuckled.  “Always thought so with that one…”

“What do you mean by that?”  Reimu asked, tilting her head.

“Oh my, I hope we’re not interrupting anything~”  A tired voice came from the stairs. The four looked over to see one and a half phantoms approaching.  Yuyuko waved. “Good morning.”

Knives appeared in Sakuya’s hands as Marisa readied her mini-hakkero.  Reimu smiled and bowed.

“Welcome to the Hakurei Shrine, Lady Saigyouji, Miss Konpaku.  How are you feeling today?”

She brought her hands together and smiled.  “Oh, I am doing _much_ better today, thanks to all of you.”  Yuyuko motioned to Youmu, who carried several large boxes.  “Since Marisa was kind enough to invite us, we have brought some food for the flower viewing festival.”

“Oh, thank you very much!”  The shrine maiden relieved the gardener of her burdens and motioned to the shrine.  “The viewing won’t be for a bit, but we’re about to have breakfast, if you’d like to join us.”

“Uhhh…!”  Youmu suddenly grew concerned.

“Oh, that would be _wonderful!_ ”

As they walked towards the shrine, Mima tapped the gardener on the shoulder, making her wait.  The ghost leaned in close, her voice hardly a whisper.

“If you ever harm Reimu again…” She smiled, “your soul will never know rest nor joy… no matter how many times you reincarnate, you… will only… **_s u f f e r._** ” Youmu could feel her frigid breath on her neck.  “Understand?”

“Y-y-yes…!”

“...good.”  She pulled back, still smiling brightly.  “Now… how about we go and see what your master _really_ wants.”

The two entered to find the rest of them eating, save for Yuyuko, who had three empty food bowls before her.

“...and as you can undoubtedly imagine,” the ghost princess continued, giving a brief nod to Mima as she sat down, “I’d like you to find this friend for me…”

  


The Yakumo Family

 

“Reimu, I have one request of you before the three of you head out.”

“What is it, Auntie?”  She looked up at Mima, who stood with a hand on the shrine maiden’s shoulder, looking off in the sky.  She finally looked back at her.

“Don’t invite that blonde, parasol-wielding bitch back to the shrine.  She’s mo-”

“ _Auntie!_ ”

“She’s more trouble than she’s worth, kiddo.  Just trust me on this one.”

“Hrm…”  As Reimu frowned at her ghostly caretaker, Marisa and Sakuya approached, with Alice trailing behind them.

“We’re all ready here…” Marisa paused as she glanced between the two of them, “...arright, what’s wrong?” the magician asked, trying to suppress a grin.

“She’s being mean!”

“Just-” Mima sighed, “...don’t let that one come over here.”

“Is she dangerous?”

Mima looked off to the side, scowling.

“...it’s outta my hands, then.”

“She makes me consider passing on, if you consider _that_ dangerous.”  She finally mumbled.

“So… you’ll act like ya do when Ruukoto makes chicken dinner, gotcha.”  Marsia nodded.

“I Heard That.”

“When we hear you’re on your way back, I’ll start making lunch for you three.”  Alice informed the shrine maiden as she recharged the communication spell between the dolls.  “From what Miss Saigyouji said, it shouldn’t take you too long to find her friend.”

“Okay, thank you, Miss Alice!”  The shrine maiden turned and waved as the three took off.

 

“So, apparently her bud is supposed to be hidin’ out somewhere between the gate and their house…”  Marisa said to herself as they entered the Netherworld once more. “So let’s keep our eyes open.”

“Hey, is that Chen over there?”  Reimu pointed off in the distance.  “I think it is.”

“That… huh.”  Marisa thought for a moment.  “We didn’t see that cat anywhere _near_ here last time.  Odd.”

“Counterpoint: it’s a cat.”  Sakuya muttered as the shrine maiden drifted towards the feline youkai.  “I mean, an open door is all the reason a cat needs to go through it, especially since it was closed before.”

“Well, yes, but generally they need to be _near_ the closed door to c-” She paused and looked at her sister.  “-Reimu, get back here!”

The shrine maiden came back, holding the cat in her arms.  “Kitty!”

“That- that’s nice, dear.”  The magician turned her attention to the cat.  “What’re you doin’ here, Chen?”

The youkai transformed into her humanoid form.  “Stuff.” She looked away from Marisa.

“Are ya friends with Miss Konpaku?” Reimu asked, unaffected by the cat’s aloof nature.  “Were ya planning to play with her today?”

“N-no,” Chen answered; caught off-guard by Reimu’s genuine question to her deflection.  “Youmu’s more of my master’s friend than mine, really…”

“Oh, you have a master?”

“Yep!  She’s super strong and really smart!”  She puffed out her chest, looking proud.

Sakuya opened her mouth to interrupt, but Marisa held up a hand, stopping her.

“Wow!  Could we meet her?”

“Well… I don’t see why not.  Come on!”

“Why are we…?”  The maid asked quietly.

“‘Cause now we have a starting place.”  The magician responded.  “This is what she _does_ .  I’m not always happy with it, but I’ve been with her long enough to know it _works_.”

The cat and the shrine maiden chattered with one another as the two others followed behind them.  It was not long before Marisa felt her eye twitch. Sakuya glanced her way.

“Something… really strong.” She answered the unasked question.  “Like, Flandre level of power.”

“Ohhh dear.”

“There she is!” The cat pointed and waved.  “Hi, master!”

Turning their way was a tall woman in robes and a tabard.  Her mob cap had been modified to house her large fox ears, with bright blonde hair spilling out underneath.  Behind her, nine fluffy tails could be seen. Her gold eyes shifted from the group to the cat.

“Chen.”  She nodded.  She gave the group one more look before turning her full attention to her servant.  “Question for you.”

“Yes?”

“What task did I assign to you?”

“Well, uh… to… protect the area?”

“That’s right.”  Her eyes moved to the group once more, this time Chen’s eyes moving with hers.

“...oh.  Right.” The feline youkai scratched her chin for a moment.  “They’re with me.”

“Ssswing and a miss.”

Marisa suppressed a grin as they watched the impromptu scolding.

“No no, that’s Reimu!  I met her yesterday. Reimu, and… uh…” Chen looked back at the other two. “...friends.”

The shrine maiden took the opportunity to interject herself into the conversation.  “Hello, Miss! I’m Reimu, and that’s my sister Marisa; we’re from the Hakurei Shrine!  And that’s our friend Sakuya! It’s nice to meet you.”

The kitsune nodded.  “Well met, Hakurei. I am Ran Yakumo.  You are in a very dangerous area; for what purpose have you come?”

Both Sakuya and Marisa straightened.  The maid moved closer to the magician.  “Does… this happen often?”

“This… is what… she does.”  Marisa grinned.

Reimu brightened.  “Ah! Are you related to Miss Yukari?  We were told we could find Miss Yukari Yakumo here; Lady Saigyouji sent us.”

The kitsune stared at her for a moment, considering the information she had been given.  “Lady Yukari is my master,” she informed the shrine maiden, “and she is not to be disturbed right now.”

“Oh, is she busy?”  Reimu asked as the two moved in closer, not liking the stance Ran was taking.

“She is sleeping.  Like many youkai, she is nocturnal… and I will not allow any to disturb her rest.”

Marisa readied her focus.  A fan of knives appeared in Sakuya’s hand.

“Oh!  Okay, then.”  Reimu nodded. “We shall return tonight.”

“What?!”  The two behind her asked in unison.  The shrine maiden flinched and turned towards them.

“Sh-she’s sleeping!  Miss Ran isn’t being unreasonable about this; if she’s awake in the evening, then it would be rude for us to disturb her now.”

The magician frowned at her sister.  “Reimu, we came a long way for this; I really don’t want to make this trip again.”

Reimu shrugged.  “Well, that’s not her fault.  Imagine if someone shook you awake in the middle of the night and wanted you to do something because they didn’t want to come back in the morning.  And imagine if they beat up Auntie as well because she wanted you to sleep! Would _you_ want to help them?”

Marisa sighed.  “No…” Her sister rubbed her back in a consoling manner.

“I know it’s not ideal, but let’s just head back, enjoy lunch and the party until dusk, and then come back, okay?”

Marisa let out an over-dramatic groan, but turned her broom around.  “Fiiine…” She glanced back at the kitsune. “We’ll be back.”

Ran simply watched, her sleeves joined.  “As you wish.”

“What’s for lunch, anyway?”

Reimu thought for a moment as they began to drift away.  “I believe I saw Miss Alice setting aside some fried tofu.”

The kitsune’s ears twitched.

 

“So…” Mima grit her teeth, hands on her hips.  The three turned around, food in their mouths.

“Hm?”  Marisa managed to get out without losing any food.

“I understand why you didn’t get your task done…”  The ghost continued slowly.

“Sorry Auntie…”

“It’s… okay.”  She responded in a voice that sounded anything other than okay with the outcome.  “But that doesn’t explain what _those_ two are doing here.”

Ran and Chen turned towards the ghost, food in their mouths.

“Hm?” Chen asked.  Mima stared at them.  The two stared back.

“ _The fuck are you doing here?!_ ” She finally snapped.  There was a minor lull in the activities around the shrine, but the power of alcohol, magic, and mood enhancers caused the outburst to quickly be forgotten.  Ran flipped the piece of tofu in the air and chomped it down.

“...we were hungry.”  The cat finally answered.

Her impression of a vengeful spirit long since perfected, Mima descended upon the cat.  “ _Then go eat at your own house!_ ”

“Auntie…!”

The ghost flinched, slowly turning to Reimu.  “Yes…?”

“...they’re guests.”

She closed her eyes and gripped her temples with a hand.  Chen opened her mouth to say something, only to have Mima hold up a finger at her, silencing her immediately.  Finally, the ghost moved away, heading into the crowd.

“I do not believe your Aunt was very happy at our presence.”  Ran commented as she returned to her food.

“Yeah, she seems to think your master is Queen Bitch of Gensokyo of somethin’.”  Marisa tipped up the bowl to drain the broth.

“Marisa!”  Reimu stared at her, shocked.

“So they know one another, then.”  The kitsune nodded.

“Miss Ran!” The shrine maiden gasped.

Ran glanced at Reimu, surprised at the sudden scolding.  “She’s very powerful and integral to Gensokyo, but that doesn’t mean she’s nice and sweet.”

“Well, that doesn’t make it okay to be mean to them!”

The kitsune looked at the frowning shrine maiden, smiling slightly.  “If I hadn’t been ordered to, I’d almost be tempted to take you to Lady Yukari right now just to see how you’d react to one another.”

“Just remember: if ya make her cry, I’m gettin’ a _bitchin’_ new fox-fur coat.”  Marisa smiled as she began to collect everyone’s empty bowls.  The rest watched the party from the veranda. Chen morphed into her cat form and curled up on Ran’s lap.

“What exactly do you do here, young Hakurei?”

“Talk to people, help solve disputes, try to keep the peace.”

“Do you feel it makes a difference?”

Reimu smiled, looking out over the crowd.  “It’s made me a bunch of friends. They seem happy with what I do.  The people in town haven’t chased me out…” She looked up at the tall kitsune.  “It may not be enough to save Gensokyo, but at the very least, it’s not hurting it.”

Ran smiled softly and looked out over the crowd.  “...you actually know each and every one of the people here, don’t you.”

The shrine maiden moved closer to Ran and pointed out into the crowd.  “That’s Miss Cirno over there; she’s the strongest ice fairy! Over there is Miss Meiling and Lady Flandre; they’re from the Scarlet Devil Mansion where Miss Sakuya works.  Ah, and there’s Lady Remilia! She’s… following Lady Saigyouji who’s being… carried by Auntie Mima. Um.”

The evil spirit approached those sitting at the shrine and tossed the ghostly princess to Ran; the nine-tailed fox caught her with a grunt.

“Me-ck!”  Someone squeaked.

“Your problem now.” Mima stated.

Remilia huffed indignantly.  “Excuse me, I wasn’t done te-”

She whipped around to face the vampire.  Remilia stopped, almost colliding with her.

“You try to start a fight like that again, and not even _time travel_ will fucking save you.”

Remilia pulled back, idly spinning the parasol in her hand.  “ _Well_ then.”

Her threats delivered, Mima stormed off.  The shrine maiden began to rise, but Marisa placed a hand on her shoulder.

“Stay here,” she grinned, “I’ll go talk to her; don’t worry.”

Quick as she appeared, the magician took off.

“I suppose I shall take my leave, then…”  Remilia nodded at Reimu and turned around.

“Oh, leaving so soon?”  Yuyuko chided, shifting in Ran’s arms to a more comfortable position.  “And here I thought you I thought you were full of clout… but I suppose it was only hot air.  It seems as if you’re not as brave as you claimed, if all it takes is one vengeful spirit to make you scared.”

The vampire turned back around, her eyes narrowing.

“Please don’t fight with Lady Remilia, Lady Saigyouji.”  Reimu begged, looking forlorn. “I don’t want to see anyone get their feelings hurt, especially at a party; is there anything we can do for you to help cheer you up?”

“O-oh!  No, no dear.”  Yuyuko jumped, taken aback.  “I’m fine… but thank you.”

Her back to Reimu, the vampire leaned towards the ghost.  “And who said it was the _spirit_ I feared, hmmm?”  She grinned smugly.

Ignoring the ghost’s look of contempt, Remilia turned to give Reimu a nod.  She glanced at Sakuya and jumped.

“Oh my!  You look _just_ like someone I used to know!  They were the chief maid for my mansion.”  She looked into the sky dreamily. “Why I can’t remember the last time I saw her, it was so long ago.”

“It’s good to see you as well, master.”  Sakuya smiled as she stood and bowed. “I would have returned sooner, but it was quite late upon returning, and I would have been of little use to you in the state I was in.”

“Yes, well surely you have the strength to carry this dreadful parasol, hm?”  Remilia smiled as her maid took the item from her hand. “Now come and tell me of your adventures; that boorish ghost was of no help at all.  No help at all, I say!”

“Of course, master; just know I must return this evening to help with the final leg of the adventure.  You _did_ ask me to see it all the way through, after all.”  Sakuya turned and smiled at the shrine maiden. “I shall return later, dear.”

“Have fun!”  Reimu waved. “It was good to see you again, Lady Remilia!”

The two wandered into the crowd, leaving Reimu with Ran and Yuyuko.  The black twin-tailed cat crawled out from under the ghost, reverting to her humanoid form.

“So, that’s a thing that happened.”  She stated, nonplussed. Her ears flapped back, the feline youkai looked at Yuyuko, then turned to Reimu, looking at the vacant lap.  “Do people jump into _your_ lap often?”

“N-no, usually people put _me_ into _their_ lap.”

“Good enough; just hold onto me if someone does that.”  Returning to her cat form, Chen curled up in Reimu’s lap.

“So Yukari’s still sleeping, is she?”  Yuyuko asked the kitsune; she had yet to leave her lap.

“I’m afraid so.”

“Oh my, oh my~” She looked back out at the grounds, staring at the trees.  “I do hope she’s not trying to avoid finishing what she said she’d do, now.”

“You’ll have to ask her, Lady Yuyuko.”

“Don’t worry, Lady Saigyouji!”  Reimu smiled, “We’ll head back there tonight and talk to her when she’s awake.”

“Just… please, _please_ don’t bring her over here, Reimu.”  Mima asked as she approached the shrine once more, Marisa trailing behind.  “I know you love everyone and see the good in them when no one else can, but… please do so from a distance with her.”

_  
__Tap-tap-tap-tap-tap-tap-tap…_ Mima’s claw continued to tap on the table in the living room as she held her head with her other hand.  Reimu and Marisa sat to the side of her, staring down at the tabletop The shrine maiden was nervous, while the magician tried her best to suppress a grin.  Behind the two, Alice and Sakuya stood, none too eager to say the first thing. Across from the angry specter stood Ran, her sleeves together. At the table in front of the kitsune sat a tall blonde woman in a purple dress.  She stared at Mima, smiling slightly. With the snap of a wrist, she produced a fan.

A clap of thunder erupted from the shrine; Mima’s wing slowly withdrew from across the room, allowing the damaged fan to fall from the wall.  Ran sighed as she picked up her master’s damaged accessory; Yukari continued to smile.

“My, I-”

“What the fuck makes you think you’re welcome here?”  Mima snapped, finally looking at her.

“Y-”

“Don’t even try to blame this on them; you _knew_ I was here.”  She pushed herself up, leaning on the table.  “I know you’re not stupid, Yukari! You fucking _pride_ yourself on _fucking knowing everything!_ ”

“W-”

“So are you just bored?  Decided to _fuck with me one last time before everything ends?!  Given up on everything already?!_ ”

Marisa placed a hand over Mima’s clenched fist.  The angry spirit snapped her head in her daughter’s direction, only to see her glancing towards Reimu.  The shrine maiden continued to stare at the table, tears lining her eyes.

Closing her eyes, Mima slowly sighed and sat back down.  Her wings folded back into her cape as her claws retracted.  “Borders…“ she opened her eyes once more, locking her gaze with the youkai across from her, “have a natural advantage over magic, as you and I both know.  Which is why I’ve been studying… and why I’ve passed everything I know to my student.”

Holding the mini-hakkero in her apron, Marisa snapped her fingers.  A ripple spread across the shrine; Reimu raised her head and looked at her sister as she felt something in the air change.  Though her smile remained, Yukari’s violet eyes narrowed.

“Given how you are, I assume that’s simply a small sample of what you’re capable of, yes?” Yukari asked.  Static crackled as she drew a line in the air; using both hands, she forced open her interdimensional gap and produced a new fan from within.  The struggling tear in spacetime snapped shut of its own accord as she let go, the noise disappearing with it. “Otherwise, I’m afraid you will still have a hard time keeping me locked down, dear.”

“Whether I have enough power to delay or crush you is immaterial.  You,” She pointed at the border youkai, “accepted the proposal for the Spell Card Rules, and implemented the system here; I have kept my end of the bargain.  You were already aware of the disappearance of the Hakurei God. So what… the fuck… were you thinking when you allowed Yuyuko to drain Spring?”

“Curious… many had asked the same thing when I gave the go-ahead on the Spell Card Rules.”

“I feel no pity for those who were suddenly forced to think in order to win their fights.  Besides, all The Rules did was open the potential for their defeat; this incident with making the perfect cherry blossom in the Netherworld nearly cost the lives of all who live here.”  The ghost sighed and gripped her head for a moment. “Look, it would make sense if the god were still here; I could see that being an adequate test for the Hakurei shrine maidens were they still empowered.  But they’re _not_ .  You already _knew this._ ”

“It… was not entirely all within my control.”  Yukari admitted. “When the god left, it severely weakened the tree’s containment.  Within a few scant years, it began to influence Yuyuko on subtle levels; once and awhile her thoughts would turn to freeing it.  After awhile, it began to affect her gardener as well; I believe it was Youmu who suggested finding a way to gather Spring. When I agreed to assist with their plan… well, the chances of it getting as far as it did were impressively slim.”  Her eyes moved over to Marisa. “You said she was distracted when you ended the battle the first time, correct?”

“Yeah;” She nodded, “she looked like she was gonna launch an attack, but instead she started lookin’ around frantically.”  The magician paused for a moment, thinking back to the fight. “She was lookin’ a little… off, at the time.”

“Hm… I think the tree was making a last-ditch effort to break free and tried to absorb her.  The Spell Card Rules likely… interfered with that.”

“Don’t think they really interfered enough; I saw some leaves growin’ just before Yuyuko let out her death knell.”

Yukari remained silent for a moment, processing the information.  “That _is_ troubling.”  She shook her head and sighed.  “I suppose I should reinforce the seal on that as well, as it appears things will be continuing for a short while longer at least.”

“U-um!”  Reimu fidgeted as everyone turned to look at her.  “I’m sorry, but what do you mean by that, Lady Yakumo?  Both you and Auntie Mima have-”

“Don’t laugh, shithead.”  The ghost growled at Yukari’s growing grin.

“-have mentioned everything ending.  What… what do you mean by that?”

The sage youkai turned her attention back to the shrine maiden.  “Well, you’re familiar with the Great Hakurei Barrier, yes?” She asked.  Reimu shook her head. Saying nothing, Yukari’s eyes slid back over to Mima.

“...she’s already been burdened trying to take care of the things she’s aware of, there has been no reason to tell her of the rest, especially when we’ve yet to devise a way to deal with them.”

“Let’s… try this again.  Reimu, what do you believe your responsibilities are as the Hakurei shrine maiden?”

“To protect the peace and defend Gensokyo!”

“That’s… an interesting interpretation of your duties.”  She glanced at Mima once more before looking at Reimu again.  “Originally, the shrine maidens had two primary tasks: exterminating youkai and maintaining the Hakurei Barrier.”

“Which youkai?  Trouble makers?”

“Technically all youkai, but generally you’d start with those who cause trouble, yes.”

“That… that sounds horrible.”

“I’m sorry?”

“Exterminating youkai just for causing trouble.  If I was doing that, I would have had to kill people that are my friends, like Magister Patchouli, and Miss Meiling.  And even Miss Alice and Chen!”

“You need to remember that youkai do feed on people, and can cause strife in human communities.”

“But if I killed them, that wouldn’t solve anything, because then their friends are going to be upset and sad!  Lady Remilia and Miss Sakuya would be very sad if I killed their youkai friends at the mansion, and they’d be right to feel that way!”

“So hey, how ‘bout that Hakurei Barrier thing, eh?” Marisa quickly interrupted before her sister could continue in her downward spiral.

“Y-yes…” Yukari cleared her throat.  “The Hakurei Barrier is what surrounds Gensokyo; it defines the borders and keeps the outside world from finding it.  It was created long ago, and- as you can guess by the name- your clan had a hand in its creation and maintenance. It required a large number of us to make it… and we no longer have what is needed to make another one.

“Replacement is generally a poor idea if repair is feasible, anyway.”  Marisa thought aloud. “Arright, so the standard repair crew is not available for now; what’s Plan B?”

“Plan B is what we’re currently doing: slowing down the deterioration of the Barrier.  Ran and I have been doing what we can, but there _are_ other responsibilities that we cannot ignore.”

“What about Chen?”

“She’s yet to gain the proper control required for accessing my powers of the Border through Ran, who in turn has access from me.  Though she is being trained, it… would not be wise to count on her eventual assistance to solve this problem.” Yukari turned her gaze to Reimu once more.  “What we need is for the shrine maiden to start doing her job properly.”

Marisa chuckled.  “Too fuckin’ bad. Her god is gone.  You want her repairing the Barrier so you can go back to sleeping the day away?  Find her runaway god.”

The sage youkai shook her head.  “I don’t think that will be necessary; the Hakurei Clan was clearly successful in breeding some sort of level of border manipulation into their line; her reaction to your amateurish attempt to seal off my power earlier proves that.”

“That’s adorable, but you’re still not going to get that show of power you’ve been thirsting for this entire time.”

“I already saw your fight with Yuyuko.”  She shook her head sadly and sighed. “It was less than impressive.”

Marisa shrugged.  “Guess we’re on even footing then, as you’ve done nothing impressive this entire time.”

“S-stop this!  Just- stop fighting with one another!”  Reimu found her face heating up once more as everyone looked at her.  She turned to her sister. “Marisa, you should know better!”

Grinning, she looked down and scratched the back of her head.  “Sorry kiddo.”

Doing her best not to lose her momentum, the shrine maiden turned to the youkai at the table.  “Lady Yakumo, I have invited you to our shrine to help solve these problems, and you have been a great help in understanding what’s going on, but I will not tolerate you being mean to my family!  If you think the bloodline of my clan is so vital to Gensokyo’s survival, then you should be thanking them for taking care of me, because I would likely not have lived to see this day without their love and care!”

Yukari blinked as she leaned away from the shrine maiden.  “...very well. I… apologize if I have offended you.”

“Thank you.  I- I don’t like to raise my voice, but this is important.  If… if Gensokyo is in as much danger as it sounds like, we shouldn’t be fighting with one another like this.  I know we’re going to have different opinions and stuff, but… we- we still need to work together, okay?”

“Arright, sis.”  Marisa grinned.

“Sorry, dear.”  Mima sighed.

“As you wish.”  Yukari nodded.

“Okay.”  Alice chimed in.

“Sounds good.”  Sakuya added.

The four at the table turned and looked at the two standing behind Reimu while Ran covered her face and sighed.  The two stared back, smiling.

“Would you like me to bring you some tea?”  Sakuya asked.

“Oh!  Um, yes please.”

“I think I could make a dinner out of the leftovers from the party…” Alice followed the maid back into the kitchen as the four looked at one another.

“To um, respond to what you said earlier, Lady Yakumo, I can feel… changes in the air, fluctuations, but I can’t see any Borders.”  Reimu frowned as she tried to describe what she had felt. “Once and awhile I’ve felt a little odd in certain areas, but even that hasn’t always been consistent.  I knew Marisa did something just a bit ago, but I wasn’t sure what… and when the tree started to really feed on Lady Saigyouji, I could start to piece together what was happening, but…” she shook her head and sighed.  “I’m sorry, but I don’t think I’m strong enough to be of any actual help on that.”

“How dangerous is this Border repair work?”  Marisa asked, glancing between Yukari and Mima.  The ghost sighed.

“The work _itself_ is only mildly dangerous at best once you know what you’re doing.  Like… brewing simple potions. Are you paying attention to what you’re doing and not thinking about what you’re going to eat for dinner?  Yes? Then you’re fine.”

“It’s generally the _area_ where the work is needed which will be the issue.”  Yukari added. “It’s not uncommon for… problems to be present, whether from being pulled in, trying to get out, or just a mixture of realities causing issues with living things.”

Satisfied with the answers, Marisa leaned back and nodded.  “Arright then, we’ll see what kind of training we can do to help Reimu with that, and if she’s capable, then we’ll just treat it like we do Incidents - we’ll go out together and I’ll keep her safe while she works.”

Yukari considered the suggestion as Sakuya set down tea for everyone. “Commendable, but I thought you had been unable to train her in such things.  Did your master not say you’ve been unable to find a way to deal with the barrier?”

“Well… much like yourselves, we’ve been occupied with a bunch of shit as well.”  The human magician sipped her tea. “And unlike when we started, we now have access to a rather nice library.”

“If you continue to _fail_ to return those books, that access will be cut off soon.”  The maid reminded her with a mirthless smile.

“So you work at this library then…” Yukari pointed her fan at Sakuya, “or rather, the mansion in which the library resides.”

“Correct.”

The fan moved over to Alice as she and the dolls set plates of food in front of everyone.  “And just where exactly do you factor into all of this?”

The tall magician glanced at Yukari as she sat next to Reimu.  “Me? I’m an old friend of theirs.”

Sakuya opened her mouth to say something, only to pause and frown before returning to her dinner.

Talking was light as they ate.  While it required work on the shrine maiden’s part, Ran eventually joined them at the table to eat.  Before long, the meal was finished and the dishes cleared away by the dolls.

“So,”  Marisa started, steering their talk back to their original topic, “for now we’ll see what we can do about training Reimu on Border and Barrier repair while you guys do your thing.  And of course, if you have- or come across- any info which may help her, you can pass it along. On top of that, we’ll keep looking for a suitable replacement god. Sound good?”

“I believe that should be acceptable.”  Yukari nodded. Mima let out a dissatisfied grunt, did not counter the proposal.

“U- um!  Before you go…”

Yukari looked at the shrine maiden.  She looked back and forth between the two sitting at opposite ends of the table, clearly nervous.

“If- if we’re going to be working together, I need to know… why don’t you and Mima get along?”

The two looked at one another, Mima’s eyes narrowing.

“So you haven’t filled her in on that yet either?”  She gave the ghost an appraising look. “Surprising… I assumed you would have jumped at the chance to poison the last Hakurei against me.”

“I try not to think about you if I can help it, you fuck-up.”

“So would you like to tell her, or shall I?”

“Go on… I’m curious as to how you’ve justified it.  When you start to veer too far from the truth, I’ll be sure to _correct_ you.”

The sage youkai returned her attention to Reimu.  “Back when Gensokyo was in the process of being formed, Mima was a powerful human mage.  During that time, many ideas were being proposed as to how Gensokyo should be formed, and how it should be run.  Those of us in charge began to sift through the suggestions, eliminating ones which simply wouldn’t work, or were too short-sided, or too risky.  

“Eventually though removal, alterations, and combinations, we were down to a handful to choose from.  The plan Mima had formed was in the final running, but in the end we decided to go with the idea proposed by the Hakurei Clan.  As you can imagine, Mima was upset. She decided to go into hiding and become a youkai, but-”

“No…”

“-the recently formed Hakurei Clan-”

“ _No…_ ”

“-deemed her actions dangerous and moved to stop h-”

Mima slammed her fists on the table, cracking the wood. “ ** _YOU SOLD ME OUT!_** ”  She screamed in absolute fury.  “ ** _YOU FUCKING TOLD THEM WHERE TO FIND ME!  IT’S YOUR FAULT I’M A SPIRIT! I SHOULD BE A MAGICIAN, YOU._** **_WORTHLESS._** **_FUCK!!!_** ”

Dashing in from the other room, Ruukoto tackled the spirit before she could reach the sage youkai.  Marisa and Sakuya piled on while Alice pulled Reimu out of the danger zone.

“I had no choice, I-”

“Yukari,” the human magician interrupted, digging her master’s claws out of her arm,“shut the fuck up for a moment, arright?!”

Eventually, the struggle subsided and everyone returned to their seats.  The robotic maid sat behind the vengeful spirit with her arms around her waist and her head on her back in a half-hug, half-hold.

“Thanks Ruukoto.”  Marisa panted. Reimu shakily applied disinfectants and curatives to her sister’s wounds.

“Not A Problem.”  The robotic maid responded.

“H- how did you know where to find Mima?”  Reimu asked. The shrine maiden already regretted starting the mess, but she knew it would do no good just to end it before hearing everything.  “A- and why would you tell them what she was doing?”

“ _I_ told Yukari.”  Mima growled. “Yukari and I were never friends, but at the very least we’d respected one another for the power we had.  The Hakurei’s idiotic plan of perpetual warfare on the youkai would never end well, and I wanted to live long enough to try again.  

“So I told Yukari I was pulling back and going to wait for their failure.  I was planning to do something like the puppeteer here - become a magician so I could survive without need of feeding on flesh.  It would have harmed _no one_.”

“And I needed to see how the Hakurei Clan would react.”  Yukari shook her head and sighed. “They were a new powerbase; their clan was never of importance outside, and I needed to know how it would change them so I would know how to handle them in the future.  Though they were youkai exterminators, they would still have to work with me, and knowing how to feed them information was important. So I told them where Mima was, and what she planned to do. Both they and I knew no laws had officially been set up for Gensokyo.  They technically had no jurisdiction yet.

Yukari went silent for a moment, staring at the broken table.

“And… they acted in the way I was afraid they would.”

“They broke into my laboratory when I was in the middle of my ritual.”  the angry spirit hissed. “They claimed I was defiling their laws and set out to kill me.”

Yukari shook her head and sighed.

“Ascending always has a price; the cheapest way to pay is in blood.  Since I was trying to hide, my way was much more expensive, much more delicate.  They knew all they had to do was fuck up the ritual, and the rest would most likely take care of itself.  I think they thought since I wasn’t killing anyone to do this, I was a pacifist.

“But I’m not.  I’m a survivor.  When they realized I wasn’t just going to lay down and die, they tried to attack.  But they were too green, and even as the failed ritual was trying to rip my soul from my body, I killed them.  And at that point… I had plenty of blood.”

She looked at Marisa and Reimu.  “The thing about using the lives of others?  To extend your own? It. Fucking. Changes you.  It distorts you, corrupts you. I was trying to become a magician; I ended up a lich.  And I _hungered_ for a very long time.”

Yukari picked up the story.  “So she and your predecessors have fought one another ever since then.  Eventually they would seal her away, but since their blood was used to make her into what she is, it was never long before she could  ‘pick the lock’ as it were.”

“B-but… why didn’t you help her?”  Reimu asked, distraught. “E- even if you weren’t friends with her, what they did was wrong!  She wasn’t trying to hurt anyone, and you knew that. Even if you needed to see how they would react, why didn’t you help her afterwards?”

“By that point, the laws had been formed, and as you could probably imagine, Mima… wasn’t interested in seeing me after that.”  She shrugged lightly. “So I simply let her do as she pleased, and let them handle her on their own. To be completely honest, I was surprised she even seeked me out with the proposal of the Spell Card Rules.”

Mima glared at her.  “I knew it was the only way to bring her dream to fruition.  If I thought I could get away with it without you fucking it up later, trust me, I would have.”

Yukari’s brows furrowed.  “‘Her dreams’... you did not craft the rules?”  Her eyes moved to Reimu and Marisa.

“I- I wrote them.”  Reimu raised her hand, embarrassed.  “The- the initial draft, anyway. Auntie Mima and Marisa helped revise them, make them more… reasonable.”

“Sorry sis, but a Best Friends Forever Clause wasn’t going to fly…”

“I… I know…”  The shrine maiden looked up at the sage youkai.  “There was… there was an incident that took place in Makai.  A lot of people almost died, all because of a misunderstanding.  It… it horrified me to think that so many good people could be killed, just because of an accident or a misunderstanding.

“I told Mima I wanted to try and change that.  She told me to put it into words, what I wanted different with how we had to handle things with violence.  So… I did. When I got it to something workable, I showed her and Marisa, and they helped me edit it. When we got it to something we all agreed on, Mima said she’d see what she could do.  I… I didn’t know what she did with it, but when she came back, we could feel the change.”

Reimu went quiet for a moment and looked at the table, fidgeting.  She looked back up at Mima, then Yukari. “Th- thank you, both of you… for making that dream come true for me.  I- I know it’s not perfect and it doesn’t solve everything, but I… I’d like to think it’s really helped things. Maybe let people vent their anger a bit more safely.”

“It has lowered fatality rates considerably.  Speaking of which,” Yukari glanced at Mima, “I should probably go now.  When you wish to report your findings, go to where you first encountered Chen.  Until then…” Drawing a line in the air with her fan… nothing happened. The sage youkai looked over to Marisa.  Looking smug, the human magician snapped her fingers once more, ending her spell and allowed the two to leave.

“I believe I should go as well,” Sakuya bowed to the group.  “I have been away from the mansion for far too long, and it has undoubtedly become a mess.  I shall see you in the library at some point, I suppose. Take care.”

The maid gone, the rest turned their attention to the puppeteer.  Ruukoto finally released Mima and stood.

“So you headin’ home as well?”  The specter asked as she stretched.  “Or were you just gonna move in?”

Alice gave her a sly smile.  “Well, I had thought about it…”  She chuckled and shook her head. “No, I have a house in the Forest of Magic; I don’t plan to move out any time soon.  I did plan to stay one more night, though. My ties to Gensokyo may not be as strong as yours, but I’d still like to help out with the problems discussed tonight.  I figured we may be able to talk about it tomorrow morning. But before that...” she turned her attention to Reimu. “Did… did you really come up with the Spell Card Rules because of our fight?”

Reimu nodded.  “It… it really scared me to think that you and Shinki and all your friends might have died because of us.  That Mima, Marisa, and Yuuka could have died be- because of me, needing to investigate what was going on.”

Alice pulled her close and hugged her tightly.  “Thank you, sweetie.”

Embarrassed, Reimu said nothing, but returned her embrace.

“Arright, if you’re stayin’ again, you can help set up the futons; come on.”  Marisa nudged the puppeteer with her foot. “There’s somethin’ we need to address first, anyway…”

As they left, Reimu looked up at Mima nervously.

“I’m sorry I- I brought up all those painful memories, Auntie.  I didn’t realize how h-h-horrible it all was, what my family did to-”

“Hey, hey, hey…” She bent down and lifted the shrine maiden up to her feet, hugging her closely.  “I know you’re just tryin’ to do what’s best for Gensokyo. I knew when I moved in with ya, I was going to eventually have to put up with that bitch.  Try not to let it get to you, okay?”

“Okay.”

“Now listen… just because she and I don’t get along doesn’t mean you should break all contact with her.  Few people care about Gensokyo as much as she does, alright? Just… try to have one of us with you when you’re with her.  She’s very crafty and… well… there’s no nice way to put this sweetie, but you’re very easy to take advantage of.”

“I know…” Reimu mumbled, “Miss Sakuya said I take too much at face value.”

“You… you really do.  But we like that about you.”

“Um.”  Still hugging her, she looked up at Mima.  “What did you mean by ‘you’ve kept your end of the bargain’ with the Spell Card Rules?”

Mima winced.  “You’re also too perceptive at times… please don’t worry about it.”

Despite the request, Reimu grew more concerned.  “Wha- what did you have to do? Auntie… what happened?”

She sighed.  “Given our bad blood and not telling her anything about why I wanted them implemented, Yukari made me promise not to get involved with any more incidents like how I used to.  Unless I’m training with Marisa, or unreasonably attacked - at Yukari’s judgement for ‘unreasonable’ - I can no longer fight.”

“B- but why didn’t you tell me…?”  Her eyes started to water.

“Because I didn’t want to make you cr- aaand you’re crying.  That- please stop. Reimu, sweetie, please don’t cry for me.”

“I never wanted to- I’m sorry I asked you to- I- I’m sorry-”  The shrine maiden gripped Mima’s robes as she buried her face and wept.

“Sh sh sh sh…”  The ghost gently rubbed her back.  “It’s okay… it’s okay…”

The sobbing subsided as her soft tones eventually calmed the girl down.  Reimu looked up at her aunt.

“I want you to listen to me, okay?”  She whispered. Reimu nodded. “You’re not the only one who was scared by what happened in Makai.  It made me realize I had become far too complacent in my battles. I relied far, far too heavily on my ‘having already died’ thing to fight well, and I didn’t really expect anything to be able to counter that.  But… then it happened, when Alice was flipping her shit after we took down Shinki.”

Anxiety filled her mind as she thought back to the battle with the young puppeteer, raging out of control with power beyond what her mother wielded.  She tried to shake the memory away and turned her attention back to her niece. “I knew… Marisa was getting to the point where she wouldn’t need me to join her in combat.  She didn’t need me looking over her shoulder anymore.

“And you… you proved you were capable of talking people down.  And I was getting in the way of that. There’s a good chance if I wasn’t there, you would’ve had your way and we wouldn’t have fought Shinki at the end there; I’m sure she was willing to listen.  But I’m afraid both Yuuka and I wanted to sow chaos too much, and that most likely tipped Marisa into the ‘Fight now, Talk later’ mood. So once we got back home from that, I knew I needed to stop directly involving myself.

“Unfortunately, I know myself too well.  I knew if I just said ‘I’m going to leave it to them, no more risks like that for me!’, I’d be back out there before long.  And I also knew when I brought the proposition to her, Yukari was going to want insurance from my end that it wasn’t just a ploy for me to somehow try and take over.  So I did what was best for everyone: I told her if she installed the rules in Gensokyo, I’d stop involving myself in incidents, in both creating them, and solving them.

“And in that time, I’ve been able to watch you two grow and make me proud.”  Mima placed a hand on Reimu’s cheek, smiling warmly. Because of both of you, I’ve spent a lot less time angry… it’s rare for me to find myself suddenly full of vitriol for no reason anymore.  So please… don’t worry about it. Okay?”

Trying to blink back her tears, Reimu sniffed and nodded.

“Thank you, dear.”  The ghost let go of the shrine maiden and pat her on the head.  “Well, we should go get changed now.”

As she turned to leave, Reimu grabbed her hand.  “Auntie- Magister Mima.”

Mima turned around, surprised to hear her title being used by her tiny niece.  Though her eyes were glossy with tears, she stood resolute. For a brief moment, Mima could see all her predecessors who stood before her in the girl.

“The… the Hakurei Clan is responsible for terrible acts against your person.  What we have done may be irreversible, but we shall do what we can to atone for such actions.”

“Reimu- no… no, you’re not responsible for what… for what they did.”

The shrine maiden shook her head.  “It may not have been by my hands, but I know enough about the divine and the arcane that deeds such as this, carry a weight for all members of its organization, even if they were against such acts.”  The ghost could see her shake slightly. “Therefore, it falls to me to, at the absolute least, admit we were in the wrong. That said, I wish to do more, to balance the scales between us. If you feel that my work with Marisa helps with that, then I shall continue to do so, both for Gensokyo, and for you.  But if you ever learn of a way I can be of greater help to you, I want you to tell me.”

Reimu put a hand to her heart, and reached out to Mima.  “I promise I will do everything in my power to repair the damage between you and the Hakurei Clan, so one day, you and my successors may stand as we do:  together as allies for all of Gensokyo.”

The ghost reached out a trembling hand and took the shrine maiden’s, pulling her close.  She wrapped her other hand around her and hugged tightly. “If only they were like you from the start.”  She whispered, her voice cracking.  “If only… they could have been like you…”

“So, what did you want to talk about?”  Alice asked as she undressed.

Marisa grit her teeth as she tried to think of how to phrase what she wished to say before shaking her head.  “I’m not as good at this shit as Reimu is, so I’m just going to come out and say it. Ya saved Reimu and I’m thankful for that.  But I also remember that you _did_ try to attack her earlier that day as well.”

“I… acted like that, yes…”

“So, I need to know what’s up with that before I let ya get too involved with whatever shit’s goin’ on with all of Gensokyo.”

The puppeteer’s brows drew together; she looked at Marisa.  “Wait, do you actually believe I was going to full-on _attack_ her?”

In her night robe, Marisa folded her arms.  “Well what else were you planning to do?”

Despite having just changed, Alice held up a hand, pulling a doll out of the sleeve.  With a flick of the wrist, she tossed it at Marisa.

“What is tha-uheheheHEHEHAHAHA!”

“So uh, just to warn you guys, Alice has _tickle dolls._ ”  Marisa growled as Mima and Reimu returned from changing into their night clothes.  “Yeah. Those are a thing.”

“I was _wondering_ what you suddenly found so funny.”  Mima commented.

The puppeteer grinned, rubbing a newly acquired bruise for her antics.  “Well, you asked how I was planning to fight Reimu the other day; you didn’t think I was seriously going to throw danmaku at her, did you?”

Curious, the ghost looked over at her.  “So, what _were_ you planning to do, then?”

Alice shrugged as they crawled into their futons.  “Well, if they didn’t stop me like they did, then I figured that would be enough of a reason for me to just force myself into their group and find out what was really going on.  After all, if they weren’t going to protect her, then they’d need _some_ one to.”

“But then Marisa saved me!”  Reimu smiled. Alice nodded.

“Yep!”

“And if she _had_ learned danmaku?”  The ghost extinguished the light.

“Then she’d have likely handed me my ass since I’d have been unprepared for such a thing.  That’d been enough to prove I wasn’t needed, but I’d have still offered my help. Alice paused and yawned.  “At any rate, we can talk about it in the morning if we want. Good night, all.”

“Good night~”  Reimu yawned. Despite her concerns for the future, her sleep was restful.  With her friends and family at her side, she knew Gensokyo would remain safe.


End file.
